Merry Christmas and HiYa!

Merry Christmas! And welcome to any new readers out there. I'm noticing an increase in hits, so that can only mean that some of you out there got a Samsung SC-MX20 as a gift and now you're trying to figure this con-sarn-ed thing.

So welcome, and don't be frustrated. I've written many posts to help you. Check the label cloud on the right hand side for the quickest help. If you can't find what you want, PLEASE ask! Please! Seriously. I won't call you stupid or anything like that. I just want to help. I'm not an expert, I don't work for Samsung, and I'm not a professional videographer or anything like that. I'm just a guy who bought a faulty camera and I was too cheap to return it and get a more expensive one.

Here's some common questions I've seen and some quicky answers:

What kind of memory card do I need?

You need an SDHC. The brand doesn't matter, as long as it's SDHC and not just SD. I have a SanDisk that I bought with the camera that works great.

How do I activate the internal memory?

If you camera is not a model SC-MX20"C","CH","E","EL", or "ER", then it doesn't have internal memory, you have to have a memory card. Let me state that again, only models SC-MX20"C","CH","E","EL", or "ER" have internal memory, not every SC-MX20 does. Most camera's sold at Wal-Mart or Best Buy in the United States don't have internal memory and you will have to buy a memory card as mentioned above. If you DO have one of the models mentioned, consult page 37 of your manual for directions on selecting internal storage.

Can my camera use such and such or so and so lens?

I don't understand this question personally. In my opinion, this is not the type of camera you'd want to use a telephoto or fish-eye lens or any other type, but I guess some people do. If you need to use a lens you need one that has a 30mm thread size. That is a non-standard size, so finding one is another story, but if you need a lens, there it is: 30mm thread size. I think there might be adapter rings out there, too.

My camera won't charge.

There are several things that might be going on here: Check to be sure the battery is seated properly - push it all the way in. Check to be sure your charger is plugged all the way in - your camera should have an amber light on the back when it's charging. If you bought a battery that is not Samsung brand, it won't work. Wait, what? That's right. Samsung requires you to use proprietary batteries, so if you got a spare one from Wal-Mart, it won't work. But a fully charged battery will last 3 hours, so why do you need a second one?

Those are the most common searches on Google that have led to this blog. Do you have another? Write it in the comment section!

The Samsung SC-MX20's Three Big Problems and a One Stop Fix

I got the Samsung SC-MX20 for Father's day this year. I had done a little research and had come to the conclusion that this was the best camera for the money we were able to spend. Being a Father of a large family, having a video camera is important, especially when grandmas and other extended family live far away.

So I read the reviews, checked the websites, then went to Wal-Mart and plunked down the money on a brand new Samsung SC-MX20 and a memory card to go with it.

Unfortunately, my research didn't prepare me for the issues that I would have. I was disappointed at first, but I was impressed with the SC-MX20's ease of use, breathtakingly long battery life and just general good looks. (I got the red one, it looks like Iron Man's camera!) But right out of the box there are three big issues that no one bothered to mention.

So, if you just bought the camera and are facing one of these frustrations with Samsung's SC-MX20, then hold tight, I have a fix for you.

Issue 1: Video doesn't work right away with Windows Movie Maker

The Samsung SC-MX20 comes bundled with Cyberlink Media Show. This is an issue in and of itself, but I have covered that in other blog posts. (Conclusion, use the disk as a coaster.) But I have seen many many comments saying the videos from the camera don't work with Windows Movie Maker.

This isn't really a bug, it was a choice by the camera makers. The format used is MP4, which you probably know better as Quick Time. It is a really good format that doesn't cause much distortion.

However, when you plug in your Samsung SC-MX20 and move your files to your computer and try to drop them into Windows Movie Maker, they won't work. For whatever reason (probably because it's Microsoft) they did not allow native support for MP4 files.

So, before you can use the MP4 files from your camera, you will have to convert them to a format that Windows Movie Maker likes. There are many ways to do this. Do a Google for "convert MP4 to Windows Movie Maker" and you will get thousands of hits. I have a personal favorite, but I can't honestly say that one method is better than any other.

However, there are other issues with the videos that come from this camera, and I do have an all-in-one solution, so keep reading.


Issue 2: Videos filmed in wide screen (16:9) format do not play that way on my computer


This is a bug, but one that is easy to overcome. Here's the issue: When filming with the wide screen option on the camera selected, your videos look good on the camera, but when you copy them to your computer and play them with Quick Time, they are squashed and stretched. (To make matters more confusing, if you do use the Cyberlink MediaShow program, they look fine, but then when you save them from there, they are still squashed and stretched.)

So what happened? I don't fully understand the issue myself, but my understanding is that the format has a "flag" that needs to be set in order for your computer to play it in the right format. The designers of the firmware for the Samsung SC-MX20, for some reason, forgot to have the camera set this "flag", leaving your videos squashed and stretched.

So how to fix it? Well, again, there are many ways to do it. As in the previous issue, you can use just about any converter program to re-format your video. But, again, I do have an all-in-one fix coming up. Keep reading!

Issue 3: What's with all these lines? It looks terrible!

When filming in wide-screen format, the Samsung SC-MX20 uses a method called "interlacing" to keep the file size manageable or something. I don't fully understand it, but for whatever reason, it's what they decided to do. As a result, even if you have it appear in wide-screen (see previous issue), it is full of lines.

Again, this isn't necessarily a bug, but in the day and age of high-definition displays, interlacing is not only unnecessary, it's ugly. I don't know why they chose this method for the videos, but it's easy to fix.

Which brings us to what you've been waiting for. How does one deal with all these issues without having to convert, re-convert, and generally degrade the image quality of the videos from the Samsung SC-MX20?

The Answer:

(Click on icon to download)

I created this all-in-one Repairer/Converter for you. It's takes the videos from your Samsung SC-MX20 and fixes all your problems. The best part is, it does it all in one shot!

I have written up a how-to on this post, so go there for details on how to use it. (The newest version of The Answer has an option to re-render your videos in hi-def format too! It's doesn't make your videos hi-def, but it stretches them to that size making them more friendly for that format.)

Hope this helps you! If you have other issues or have any great tips or tricks or samples you want to share, please, leave me a comment.

Still here

Sorry I've been quiet lately, but I honestly haven't had a thought of what to write about. I haven't used my camera in a while, so all the issues that I might have had with it haven't come to my attention.

The Samsung SC-MX20 is still out there for sale and I suppose others will be getting one for Christmas, either to use themselves to film holiday festivities, or ON Christmas as a present. Either way, this blog is here for you guys, the users. It's a community, not just one guy, me, talking about my problems. If you would like to write a post, let me know. If there is a topic you would like covered but can't write it yourself, let me know. If you have a problem that I haven't mentioned here, or I have mentioned and you would like better discussed, let me know. Use the comment machine to talk to me!

To interlace or deinterlace that is the question...

Apart from all the other issues the SC-MX20 has, there is the issue of interlacing. If you plug your camera into an "old" style TV (the kind with a tube, which many of us still have) with the supplied cord and play your video directly from the camera, you probably won't notice the interlacing. However, when you transfer your video to your computer (unless you have an "old" style computer monitor) you will see it.

What exactly am I seeing do you ask? What is this interlacing and why is it an issue?

Here's a definition:

Interlacing - Interlacing is a method 'borrowed' from television, for refreshing an image on a computer monitor. Interlacing refreshes an image on the screen by scanning every other line, and alternately scans every opposite line. This allows a faster refresh rate, and less information during each scan. Unfortunately this may cause flickering or noticeable line movements in some situations. - http://www.systemax.co.uk/contentModules/htm/monitors/videoGlossary.htm

In a nutshell, you might see something like this:


Is this bad? Well, no, not really in itself. If you transfer your videos straight to DVD without any editing, and play them on a "tube" TV, then you're OK. But most computers now use a flat screen display and almost all new televisions are flat panel as well. They no longer use the "scan" method to provide your picture and the interlacing will be very noticeable.

So what to do? Here comes my handy dandy tool to the rescue again. The latest version deinterlaces your video, if you choose, allowing for a smoother, sharper image. You can even leave them in MP4 format for working with Cyberlink MediaShow.

You can download the fix here. I'm still trying to come up with a creative name and icon for it, but it does the job. I have given a how-to for it here.

How is it broken?

I've gotten a lot of hits on this blog from people searching for "Samsung SC-MX20 broken" or "how to fix Samsung SC-MX20" and variations on that theme.

The problem is, I don't have an answer to that because it's not a question that can be answered.

I know that the nature of web search kind of forces one to be extremely vague to get an answer that is even in the ballpark of what you are looking for. But those searches led them to this site and I really want to help if I can.

So, is your Samsung SC-MX20 broken? Or are you just experiencing the same defects the rest of us are dealing with? Or is it just something annoying?

If your camera is missing parts, or is in some other way physically damaged, it's broken. Contact Samsung for repair. And if you are searching for someone besides Samsung who can repair it, you won't find anyone. You might find some local guy - a Luis' Fix-It-Shop, that might be willing to give it a try, but there are no "authorized Samsung Repair" places besides Samsung itself.

If you battery is charged and you camera won't turn on, it's broken.

If the battery won't charge, you might try getting another battery. Make sure you get one from Samsung, others aren't designed to be a perfect match.

If your camera starts but the internal software isn't working right, it's broken.

If you camera starts and seems to be working right but no files are saved to the memory card, it might be broken. It's also possible your memory card is defective. (Oh, and you do need a memory card. In spite of some specs you might see around the 'net, the SC-MX20 does not have internal memory. ) Consult the manual to be sure you are properly recording, then try a new memory card. And make sure you have the RIGHT KIND of memory card. You need an SDHC card, not just SD.

If you take the card out of the camera and put it in your computer and the computer won't read the card, make sure your computer has the right kind of card reader. You need an SDHC card for the camer, you need an SDHC reader on your computer. Just because it fits in the slot doesn't mean it's the right kind of reader. Try using the supplied cord that came with your camera and use the camera as the card reader to see if the files are intact.

If your camera does record, but the files are somehow distorted or blank or missing audio or missing video or any other combination of similar problems, there is any combination of things that could be wrong. At this point, it's a matter of going through a long list of trouble shooting steps to rule out a camera problem or a user problem. I don't have the time to post that list here, and whatever I write won't be all inclusive. However, the first step would be to reset your camera to factory settings. Go through your camera settings and you'll find the option to do it. After that, there's too many other things that could be wrong to list any one fix. Try different lighting conditions, try different locations, try and try and try. If you are convinced that there are no environmental conditions that could be causing the problem, then it's probably broken.

However, before you give up, try leaving a message here. If you didn't find what you were looking for in this post or elsewhere on this blog, then leave a comment and ASK. Just because I haven't thought to write about it doesn't mean I don't have an answer. You came to this blog looking for something, what is it?

Now, if we're talking about the widescreen issue or the interlacing or the fact that it records in MP4 files that won't work Movie Maker or other problems like that, then you are dealing with defects, not broken-ness.

Cyberlink MediaShow and Vista - I think I finally got it to work

I've mentioned Cyberlink's Media show, the software bundled with the Samsung SC-MX20, the problems with it, and why I don't use it.

The main problem is that my "good" computer is Vista. Anything I try to do with MediaShow blows up. A small edit to a two minute video clip takes HOURS to re-compile, if it does at all.

I really want it to work. I really do. There are some features that I think would be great as a companion to Windows Movie Maker, such as the "fix shaky video" option. (The Samsung SC-MX20 does do a small amount of stabilization, very small, but if MediaShow can add some more, that would be great.) There's also option for white balance and others that Movie Maker doesn't have. I don't think I would ever use MediaShow as my main editor, it's just too complex, bloated and hard-drive intensive. But, if I can make a couple of quick edits that Movie Maker can't do, then take the tweaked video to Movie Maker, then that would be awesome.

I tried it again today. I have a 7 minute clip of my son's marching band that I did without a tri-pod. To make it worse, it was stinking cold that night, so the camera is REALLY shaky, beyond what the image stabilzation in the camera was capable of. So I imported the clip into MediaShow and gave it another chance.

The only tweak I made was "Fix shaky video". I hit the back button to save it, and let it go. The counter got to about 50% in 5 minutes or so, but then the countdown timer started to go the other way. When it got to 56% it was telling me it had 3 hours left, and it was still climbing. An hour and a half later it was still on 56%, only now the timer was well over 12 hours, and climbing.

Sigh. I really want this to work. I have another computer, a laptop, very old, that has less than a half gig of memory and runs XP. I use it like a netbook, only using it for the Internet, and even then not any video-intensive tasks. But desperate times and all that, so I installed media show on that. Doing the same edit on the same video took 10 minutes. Boom done.

But the hard drive on that laptop is tiny. And slow. I can't depend on it to do a lot of videos.

Vista, like XP has a compatibility mode. What the heck? Let's give it a try. So I found the shortcut, chose properties and set the compatibility to Windows XP.

Restart the program, find the video, choose the fix, hit the back button and....

Well, when I started writing this post it was at 91%. I thought it would be done by the time I got here. 5 minutes later it's at 91% telling me it has 3 minutes left, but the timer is climbing. Now it's at 3:20. Sigh.
Here's another attempt. You can see that 2 hours have elapsed and it says there is 17 minutes left. When 5 minutes had past it said there was 3 minutes left. It was at 87% then too. The video I'm trying to edit is 2:22 long. (That's two minutes).


Has anyone out there had better luck with this program on Vista? Maybe getting it to work on XP was a fluke? What works for you?

Maybe we can learn something here

I stumbled across this blog yesterday. It talks about still photography, but many of the principles apply to videography as well.

Stop Shooting Auto

Fireworks on the Samsung SC-MX20

Another one that I took just too long to put up. I cycled through several settings to get the best shot, but I lost the list of what those settings were, so let's just file this one under samples again.

Windows Live Movie Maker

Windows 7 is out and for the first time since Windows 98se, it did not come bundled with a new version of Movie Maker. However, the Windows Live team has taken over Movie Maker and has brought us Windows Live Movie Maker.

Early versions were very disappointing, but the most current version, released in August, looks promising. I have not used it yet, but I found this video that I thought I would share.

For us Samsung SC-MX20 users, we're still going to have to deal with the issues with our camera before editing our videos in this version of Movie Maker, too, so keep up to date on my conversion/repair program (Download to the right.) But I'll still be here, talking about how to fix your vids and use this new version of Movie Maker too.

From MediaShow to Movie Maker

I have discussed my frustration with the MediaShow software that came bundled with the Samsung SC-MX20 on this blog before so I won't get into that again. But many people are asking how to transfer videos they have edited with MediaShow to Movie Maker.

It's really very easy. (Please see the documentation on MediaShow for instructions on how to edit your videos.) If you can get MediaShow to work (I have never been able to get it to properly do anything) and have made edits to your videos, when you hit the "back" button in MediaShow, it creates a new copy of your videos in the folder you imported them into. Right-click on the new copy and choose "locate on disk".

You will see that it is still an MP4 file, but in spite of looking right in MediaShow, it still has the wide-screen and interlacing problems that it did coming out of the camera.

Using the nifty little program I created (available to the right in the downloads section) you can then repair the video that includes the edits you made in MediaShow as well as convert it to mpg format to use in Windows Movie maker.

I know that was all kind of quick and dirty, but if you need specific help, please leave a comment and I will be glad to help you.

I don't know how to answer that.

I had an unusual hit on this blog today from Google. I'm not exactly sure what this person was looking for, but this blog came up as the number one hit when they searched for "how to put sounds on windows movie maker with samsung mx20".

I don't know how to answer that. Are they having problems with the sound from their camera? Did they convert it to a Windows Movie Maker friendly format, but the sound didn't transfer? Are they trying to cut out the sound that came from the camera and put in some other sound?

Unfortunately this user didn't leave any comments to know if they found what they were looking for. But I'm intrigued enough by the hit to offer an answer to all these situations.

Problems with sound from the camera

If there is a real problem with the microphones on the camera, that is beyond the scope of this blog, for that you should contact Samsung. But here are things to check before you do that.

First, check the settings on the camera. There are two settings on the camera that affect sound. One is "Wind Cut" and the other is "Voice Mute". Voice mute is not just voice, it cuts off all the sound. Wind cut tries to cut off the "roaring" sound that you hear when wind blows across a microphone, but can sometimes cause parts of the total sound to go missing. Make sure both turned off if you are having problems with your sound.

Next, check the front of the camera. There are two mics, one on either side of the lens. The inlets for sound are the "honey comb" in the plastic. These openings can become clogged with dust and dirt. You can try to clean them out with a pin, BUT be very careful not to push it in too far and damage your mics. DO NOT try to clean them by running water into them!

Finally, to verify that the problem is with the camera on not the computer you transfer them to, try playing the raw mp4 files on another computer. They will play with Quicktime. Make sure you are viewing the raw files and not any that have been tweaked with Cyberlink MediaShow or anything else.

If you are still having issues, then contact Samsung.

Conversion Problems

There are many programs you can use to convert your movie files to a Windows-Movie-Maker-Friendly format. Many work well, others, not so much. My converter program seems to work well, at least I haven't gotten any complaints. If you have tried one converter that messes up your sound, try another. There are many out there and life is too short to fight with one for very long.

There are three formats that work best with Windows Movie Maker. WMV, which is a proprietary format created by Microsoft, AVI and MPG. There are others, but I'm talking about the ones that work best when converting from MP4. The one I like best is MPG. It's an older format, but MP4 is an "evolution" of it and it's basically an updated "container" for the same bits. Most versions of Windows and thus Windows movie maker will cooperate with it.

Mute the Sound in Windows Movie Maker

This is really very easy. Once you've added your clip to your movie, select it in the timeline, right click on it choose audio and then "mute". Then, import a sound you like into Movie Maker, then drop it in the timeline on the same spot as your clip. When you compile it, they new sound will replace the old.

---

So, anonymous user out there, I don't know if any of this answers your questions, but I hope it does.

What this camera was made for

Just some random shots of my kids running around at a church function. I shot this right around sunset, so the colors are kind of muddy. I used the easyq setting to see how it would turn out.

This is the kind of stuff this camera was meant for. If you can get a picture that you like doing this kind of stuff then the camera is great.

Let's file this one under EasyQ Samples.

Samsung SC-MX20

I saw this on Amazon and thought it was worth sharing. It's not that great of a commercial or anything, but it shows how you should use your Samsung SC-MX20: It's not a movie-maker's camera, it's for shooting videos of your kids around the house.

(Click to Play)

test

testing.

Flag

I made this as an example of certain settings on the SC-MX20, but it took me so long to get this put together that I forgot what the settings were! So let's just call this a sample. In spite of the HD button on YouTube, there is a big loss in quality in the uploading process. I'm disappointed, but the original clips were really good. Really. They were. Trust me.

Needed: professional looking template

Any of you out there good at making Blogger templates? Or do you know of a good one I can use for this site? I'm not really good at that kind of stuff and I've been tinkering with this one and I think I've messed it up. Any ideas?

Thought this was fun.

Bungee Jump with a Samsung SC-MX20 Digital Camcorder

An Alternative to My Program

One thing I love is hearing about how others are approaching the same problem I'm having and seeing how they are fixing it.

An anonymous commenter pointed me to AVIDemux and how it was being used to fix the same issues I was trying to fix with my program. (Sorry, Mr. Anonymous, your comment got lost somewhere and I wasn't able to publish it!)

I think that's great. I didn't build my program (which still doesn't have a proper name!) to compete with anything anyone else is doing. I just wanted something that worked for me. Then, when I blogged about it (on my journaling blog, which I didn't think anyone read!) I suddenly got hundreds of people asking me for help! So I put it out there. If you find it useful, great! If you find something else useful, tell me about it! I'll write it up here! Or better yet, YOU write it up and I'll post it.

But I'm getting off topic. We're talking about AVIDemux.

Mr. Anonymous, if you're out there, I'm glad it works for you, but I can't get it to work. I've tried every possible combination of encoder and format and I can't seem to get a file that does anything. The program is just too complex and too buggy to be as simple a fix as mine.

That being said, from the looks of it, if one can get it to work, AVIDemux does have tons more options for tweaking your video than mine does. As it should. Mine is a simple converter, AVIDemux is an editor.

Also, it looks promising as a solution for Macs, which my program is not.

So, Mr. Anonymous, if you are out there, please respond to this post and let me know how you got it to work. I'd love to be able to write about it, but it's impossible to talk about something that does nothing.

UPDATE: I was able to get AVIDemux to output an MP4 file that was pretty good. It kind of knocks it out of the league as a converter, like mine. But using the deinterlace and resize options, the output did look as good as what comes from my program. The only issue at that point is you still have to use something else to convert it to a format that Windows Movie Maker likes. I haven't explored all the options to see if there is something in there worth keeping it for.

If ANYONE can get this to work on Windows and produce something that can be edited by Windows Movie Maker, let me know.

I dropped it today

I was using my camcorder to tape my kids helping my wife build a storage shed. I had forgotten to clear the memory card from a previous project and the card got full. At least I think that's what happened. The camera shut itself off and wouldn't come back on.

So I put the camera in my pocket. I was also taking still shots, so I was wondering around with my still camera. I sat down in a lawn chair and my camcorder FELL OUT OF MY POCKET AND HIT A ROCK!!! It fell about two feet and I thought for sure it was a goner.

But guess what? Other than a couple of sand-grain sized nicks in the red finish, it's unharmed! I plugged it in, turned it on, and it's working fine. There's no cracks or scratches in the lens and it's A-Okay.

Now I am not suggesting you press your luck and go around abusing your Samsung SC-MX20, but it's good to know it can take an accidental hit.

Is Samsung's Newer any better than the Older?

I saw this the other day on Samsung's newest HD camera. By the looks of it, our SC-MX20 is still a better camera. Adding an HD imaging chip doesn't make the picture better, especially if your design is flawed.

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

I think we might still have the better deal, especially when the problems are very easily fixed.

Tutorial - Rendering SC-MX20 video in HD for Youtube - Freeware

I saw other tutorials on YouTube, but many of them told you to download pirated software. And even then, it was something complex and hard to use.

Here's my version. Fast, Free, Easy, and did I mention Free? Not to mention legal.

It's not HD, but so what?

I've said before that I love my Samsung SC-MX20. I must, given that I spend so much time writing this blog to help those of us who have one.

But I've heard a lot of complaints. One of the biggest is "it's not an HD camera! Why did you waste your money! Buy an HD!"

There are a lot of HD camera's out there now, including a couple by Samsung, the Flip, and many others. But how many of these really produce a quality HD picture? How good is the color and image quality compared to the Samsung SC-MX20? Not many. And even if it is HD, what difference does that make if all you are doing is taping monk shots to post on YouTube? Hardly any.

If you are looking to make professional quality videos, like something you'd see in a movie theater, then the Samsung SC-MX20 is not for you. Most camera's aren't for you, including most HD camera's you can afford. You really shouldn't expect professional quality video from a camera you can buy at Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

I didn't start this blog to advertise the SC-MX20. I don't work for Samsung, or anyone related to them. I bought what I thought was a good camera only to find it had issues. In fact, I probably won't buy another Samsung, they just aren't that good at making cameras. But I have it now, and I've figured out how to fix some of the issues and I'm sharing the fixes with you.

If you don't like the picture you get with this camera, there's not much I can do to help you. And I'm not going to argue with you. It's not that great of a camera. But it is a good camera for recording your average middle class family memories. That's what I use it for and with the fixes that I've come up with along the way, I'm happy with it.

So, in that sense, I'm happy to help you too. If you're looking to get a perfect picture from this camera, I can't help you, but if you are willing to settle for a good picture that is suitable for saving your family memories, then that's what I'm here for.

Ask me. What can I help you with?

Question of the week.

So this question has come up as a hit on my site more than any other in the last few days and I thought since so many people are looking for an answer, I'd give them one.

Question: How can I use the Samsung SC-MX20 as a live web cam?

Answer: You can't.

Thank you for playing and have a nice day.

OK. Let's be specific. While the Samsung SC-MX20 would make an awesome web cam, it just wasn't designed to be one. When you plug the camera into the computer, it shuts off every function except the card reader, effectively turning it into an external drive. There is simply no way around it short of jail-breaking the firmware and I don't know if that is possible at all.

There is one way that it might be done, but I haven't tried it and I'm just theorizing: Using the AV out port on your camera and the cord that came with it for that port, you can plug the camera into a computer equipped with video-in functionality. Then, if the computer is configured correctly, you can use the video in as your web cam.

Yes, that's pretty vague. How do you know if your computer has video-in functionality? Well, did you install a piece of hardware that has it? No? Then you don't. It's not something computers are equipped with off the shelf.

Even then, I'm not sure it's possible. I don't know if the AV out will work on a "live" system. I have never tested it on my computer, but I think it only works to play your videos not play the live image.

The Samsung SC-MX20 is simply not designed for that use. And there' s no reason it should be. There are some excellent web cams out there for a whole heck of a lot cheaper than the mx20. The designers focused on making a good digital camcorder. And while they might have fallen short in some areas, I think they were right in keeping the functionality to it's single purpose.

Waterfall

Tried to use the waterfall setting on the camera. I thought it looked pretty good until I tried to edit it. Movie Maker seems to hurt it a lot. The color wasn't so good on the original, though. Everything was brown, even the water, so I can't blame the camera or Movie Maker too much, it was just a bad shot.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

I have been tracking the traffic to and from this blog since it's inception. I'm really surprised at the number of people who come directly here. Maybe some of you have even set it as your home page! That's kind of cool.

Since I am devoting my time to helping others here, I'm going to reach out to you. What kinds of things have you found helpful on this blog? What other topics would you like to see covered? What issues are you having with your camera and videos? Would you like to share you completed projects here? Would any of you like to do a guest post for me?

To tell you a little bit about me, I am disabled and often pain and discomfort prevents me from blogging regularly. I would love to do more here, but circumstances do not allow me to get too rambunctious. I'd love to hear what you all are doing with your Samsung SC-MX20 and your thoughts and feelings about it.

Feel free to contact me by either posting a comment below or email me here. (I don't like giving out my email because of the mountains of spam I get, so treat it with care.)

In my next post I am hoping to put together an article addressing questions that have come up on Google and other searches that I haven't covered yet. If you have one, please drop it to me and I'll be sure it gets in the blog. (Whether I can answer it or not is another question!)

Peace.

New version of my program

I just finished an update to my converter/repair program. (I still need a good name, any ideas?) The old version has been removed and the new version is the only one available for download. You may get it here:



The new version is a little smarter than the old one. It remembers the settings you used before and keeps them for the next time you run it.


I've also added some options that are editable. You can now choose to either add a word or phrase added to the video files' names (to the front of the names or the back) OR you can choose to rename the files as they are converted.


There may be a few bugs, still. I work on this when I am able, which is not very often, so I cannot promise that I have built everything 100% correctly.

Unfortunately, I am unable to fix the Not Responding message. I did add a message that warns you about it, but since the engine of the program is a background process, all we can do is wait it out and just know that even though it says Not Responding, that applies to the interface and not to the whole program.

As always, this program is free and open source. I have not published the source code, but if you would like it, let me know. I need to figure out how to pass along the code, but when I do, you can have it.

Remember, use at your own risk. I have done my best to make sure the program is stable and safe, but I am using a free programming tool built by Microsoft, so I cannot vouch for what they might place in there.

What can you do to make your videos look good?

This blog is devoted to the issues with the Samsung SC-MX20 and there are many. I do endorse this camera over others in the same price range for the fact that in spite of it's issues, it's still a really good camera (once you figure out how to get around the issues) and others in this price range and below suffer from poorer quality or poorly designed hardware or both.

But there are better cameras out there. Much better cameras. And if you are comparing the image quality you get with THIS camera to THOSE cameras, you will be sorely disappointed. But fear not, part of my mission is to help those of you stuck in this price range to get the most out of this camera.

Three levels

Your Samsung SC-MX20 has three levels of user control that affect the color, contrast, brightness and sharpness of your videos. These levels are not labeled as such in the user manual, but you will get the drift of what I am talking about as I explain them.

First, for the beginner or young user there is the EasyQ level. This mode of the Samsung SC-MX20 is activated by pressing the EasyQ button on the left hand side of the camera (in the space where the view screen folds into. Once in this mode, the camera takes complete control over all the settings on the camera, allowing the user to just point and shoot, but offers not flexibility in adjusting the settings.

In most cases, EasyQ mode will give you pretty fair results. If you are not too picky about color balance and sharpness and just want to "get the shot", this mode is great. It also allows you to hand this camera to someone and say "just shoot" and you don't have to worry about them messing with any settings - because they are locked out.

Now if you want a little more control over how your videos look, there are the iScene modes. At this level you have a little more control without having to worry about how a particular setting works.

There are several of these and I am not going to list them all, but you can consult the user manual or just play with them. These modes adjust the settings to best match the scene they describe. For example there is a beach mode that is intended for you to use in extremely bright situations, walking on the beach or in the desert. The camera then sets all it's settings to take the best picture (in the designer's opinion) in that situation, compensating for the bright sunlight, the reflection off the and and making your subject, presumably a person or an animal, stand out.

Again, these modes to a really good job of getting you the shot that you want. They do a better job of managing the color than the EasyQ mode, but still don't give you full control over all the settings. Think of these as pre-sets (which they truly are) that allow you to quickly choose the environment without having to fiddle with the controls yourself.

Now, if you really want to get all arty and professional, then this camera allows you to do that too. Let's call this the "power user" level.

At this level there are really only three controls available to you. Unlike "professional" cameras that have a lot of settings, the Samsung SC-MX20 was not built for that professional user. But you can work within these three settings to get the picture and color quality that you want. I highly suggest you take the time to learn about them and work with them because this is the best way to get the best results from this camera without a lot of tedious post-processing.

Three controls do all the work

The controls you have available to you are White Balance, Exposure, and Shutter. Now, I am not a camera or photography expert, so don't ask me how these controls relate to F-Stop or ISO or Aperture or Lemon Meringue pie. If you check various online Wikis you might be able to figure it out. But like designers of this camera I am going to keep things simple. As I've said before, this is a Dad's camera, not designed for the professional, but even so you can get good results.

Let's start with the easiest setting. White Balance. White balance is what most affects the colors in your videos.

The idea behind this setting is that you "tell" the camera what white should be. There are some presets that allow you to choose the lighting condition. These are pretty good. Just flip through them until the image on the screen looks as close to what you are seeing in real life. Tungsten works best for home settings, like birthday parties, florescent is better for school plays and such, and there are various settings for outdoor situations.

If you are a true power user, you can even choose what white should be. Choose the manual setting, point the camera at something that is white, and press enter. Be warned, however. While you may know that whatever you are pointing at is white, it may not be "truly" white in the given lighting conditions. However, if you tell the camera that it's white, it will make that shade look pure white in the finished video. Say, for example you point it at a white door, but in the given lighting that's a little shady, the door is actually a shade of gray. In the finished video it will be white, but the color of everything else in the shot will be adjusted color wise as well. Get it? So use this setting wisely.

The next setting is Exposure. This is how much light you are letting into the camera. It's kind of like the brightness setting on your TV, the higher you turn it up, the brighter the picture gets, but if you turn it up too high the colors all blend and you lose quality.

You will most want to play with this setting in very brightly lit situations. It will be easy to lose your subject if the exposure is too high. Also there are times you may want to capture an image that is more dimly lit than something else in range. You can make the dim object brighter while making the brighter object too bright to steal the scene.

The final setting is Shutter. This is how fast the shutter moves to capture each frame. This is not frames per second (which, as far as I can tell, on the Samsung SC-MX20 is set at a constant 30 frames per second) rather it is what fraction of a second the shutter is open to capture each frame.

To be honest, this setting is the most confusing for me. The speed of your shutter also affects how much light is getting into the camera, so you will have to adjust your exposure accordingly. Shutter speed most affects the sharpness of your video. Faster moving subjects will need a higher shutter speed. For example, if you are taping a golf swing, you will want a very high shutter speed, otherwise all you will capture is a blur.

I haven't found a good use for this is "normal" video conditions, but the option is there for you to play with.

There is one more setting that I did not include in these three and that is focus. Everyone knows what focus is. Most cameras, including this one, have a really good auto focus system. However, if you need to focus on something that the auto focus is not getting just right, this option is available to you.

In conclusion let me just say that I have found that the best way to capture a scene that most closely approximates what I am seeing with the naked eye is to use these three settings to make what I see on the view screen match reality. No digital camera is going to give you perfect life-like quality, but you can get pretty close with the Samsung SC-MX20 if you are patient enough.

Some things from YouTube

Interested in what others have to say? I was, so I looked it up.



100 random videos made by or about the Samsung SC-MX20. I excluded any that had adult material or advocated using illegal software or that were already on this site.

Tricky Camera Trickery

Here's a video to show off the rather spiffy HD footage from the i8910 HD. But we can't make it easy for you, so here's the challenge - how did we make this video?



NO camera tricks, edits or any of that CG tomfoolery, it's shot in camera and in one take. If you think you know how we did it, feel free to comment below.

Otherwise we'll reveal our secrets in a few weeks time....